Why the Nintendo Switch Paid Online Subscription Service is Not a Big Deal

[Photon Jet 5,493]

Hello everypony.

Since the reveal of the Nintendo Switch paid online subscription service, many players are worried that it could ruin their whole online experience since online gaming is common in video games. The last times I've been on Splatoon 2, I've seen posts about it as if it's doomsday.

To me, I don't think it's that much of a big deal. True we HAVE to pay to keep playing online even though the online service is not perfect but here are my reasons why I think of it this way:

By looking at the service in better detail, the yearly service costs $20.00 (or if you live in the UK it's about £18.00. That's cheap compared to the PS4 ($50.00) and Xbox ($35.00 per month) online subscription services. So you don't have to pay a lot to get what you want and obtain additional features that come with it. Speaking of which...

Cloud saving can actually help maintain your video game data in case something bad happens to the console as long as you back up a copy into the servers. So, for example you've had a virus on your Switch and decided to buy a new one, you could just log in with your details on your new one, put your game in and all your progress is still there. It's like storing a copy of your project in a USB stick so you can continue on any computer you use.

I think the reason why the online service is not perfect when it comes to online gaming is that so many players are playing online which can cause connections to lag and drop. Maybe that could be way the online service was planned out to balance the level difference in Splatoon and some other games but that's my theory. If Nintendo can find a way to keep their online service stable for everyone, it would perform better.

And of course, who doesn't like playing old-school NES games? They're what made Nintendo shine because it helped everyone survive the video game market crash back in the 1980s. A library of NES games are another bonus when you've paid for the membership annually.

So in my opinion, while the idea of the online subscription service could be concerning for others, I wouldn't go on a full-panic mode holding up a book and shouting, "It's a cookbook!". It's just a small fee of $20.00 annually. Heck, it's about half the full price of a Nintendo Switch video game you see in stores. However, we'll see how this service will go so Nintendo can look at the feedback given and find ways to improve the quality of online experience even more. Remember: this service was planned back in January last year before the Nintendo Switch got released.

Here's the website I believe is good for reference:  http://uk.ign.com/articles/2018/05/08/everything-we-know-about-nintendos-paid-online-subscription-service

Despite what would or would not happen when the online service goes live, Nintendo is still one of the best video game companies in the world to our hearts.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Photon Jet

[Here No Longer 5,286]

I say it's not a big deal because it's a Nintendo console anyways. Most Nintendo games don't really have many online features. Sure Super Mario Odyssey has the records on the minigames and Smash has For Glory, but the records don't really matter and Smash's servers are beyond s*** (at least Sm4sh's were), and I can't even think of many other games that really have much of anything online except for third party games. What are you really going to be doing online? Trying to get the world record figure eight race? Playing For Glory to train for Smash tournaments? Maybe a Mario Kart race or two (Mario Kart 8 has online features that allow you to do that, if nobody already knew that).

And it's only $20 a year if you want it anyways, apparently. That's REALLY cheap. The online subscriptions of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were $60 a year, and I'm assuming that the aforementioned figure has probably increased since then for the PS4 and Xbox One (just looked at the post and f*** it's totally INSANE now). That is ridiculous when you think about it. That's spending an entire blockbuster title's worth of money on one year of online services. After a while it stacks up. By the end of the console's cycle, you'd be looking at $400 spent on just playing online. With the new figures that I've seen, that could be over $1000 (though those are monthly subscriptions. In the old days of the 360, you could buy a year for cheaper per month). I may not even spend that much on the freaking games themselves. And that whole spiel is a big reason why I've decided to stick to PC and Nintendo consoles.

With PC all you have to pay is the internet bill and nothing else, which is amazing and has been for me, and Nintendo consoles are normally for when I feel like playing more casual single player games (Smash can be an exception, along with Pokémon). Though I have wanted to try out the Switch port of Paladins since it came out. I do already have it on Steam, but it would be interesting to play from a more balanced perspective (as the game is RADICALLY different on console from what it is on PC), and I've had thoughts about playing Splatoon at some point. My brother really liked the original when he played it. If I were playing this little online on Xbox or PS4, I'd likely decide against it. But $20 a year for that is more than worth it.

[Scrubbed user 3,417]

Not a whole lot of people actually use it, but Nintendo still charges anyway.

[Castle Bleck 19,446]

Like you said -- at least it's cheap.

Edited September 2, 2018 by A.V.

[Celli 4,349]

It's a rip-off because they're offering less services than what we got on the Wii and Wii U for free. The online is still shoddy. Cloud saving should be baseline, especially when the Xbone and PS4 already had it. They're charging for something that isn't fully functional. Sure, it's $20 now, but they're expecting you to focus on that fact. When they raise it to $40 a year you'll say "it's only $40! "it's only $60!" When PSN and XBL have raised there's as well. 

[Envy 6,384]

2 minutes ago, Celli said:

It's a rip-off because they're offering less services than what we got on the Wii and Wii U for free. The online is still shoddy. Cloud saving should be baseline, especially when the Xbone and PS4 already had it. They're charging for something that isn't fully functional. Sure, it's $20 now, but they're expecting you to focus on that fact. When they raise it to $40 a year you'll say "it's only $40! "it's only $60!" When PSN and XBL have raised there's as well. 

Yup. Nintendo has a lot of nerve for beginning to charge for an online service that has been seen as incredibly shoddy compared to its competition since the Wii. This is nothing but a ripoff. It makes no difference that it is $20 as opposed to the competition. Nintendo's online services are not worth paying for, period. They should have gone all out with the Switch and given us a competent online service, but instead they regressed from the Wii U and now we're back to Friend Codes.

[Megas 28,101]

Nintendo has no business charging for online when they've been notoriously shit with their online for years. And as @Celli said, they're offering less than what the Wii U did(And the Wii U's was free mind you), and I'm pretty sure they're still gonna push that retarded app on you too. The only upside to all of this is the fact that they're not gonna require it for all games like Fortnite, but at that point I have to wonder what's even the point

Edited September 2, 2018 by This Whomps

[Photon Jet 5,493]

33 minutes ago, Celli said:

It's a rip-off because they're offering less services than what we got on the Wii and Wii U for free. The online is still shoddy. Cloud saving should be baseline, especially when the Xbone and PS4 already had it. They're charging for something that isn't fully functional. Sure, it's $20 now, but they're expecting you to focus on that fact. When they raise it to $40 a year you'll say "it's only $40! "it's only $60!" When PSN and XBL have raised there's as well. 

Where did you get the thought that they may raise the subscription fee in due time? It's unlikely they would ever do that.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Photon Jet

[Celli 4,349]

1 minute ago, Photon Jet said:

Where did you get the thought that they may raise the subscription fee in due time? It's unlikely they would ever do that.

Because PSN and XBLA have raised their prices as well. Who's to say Nintendo won't?

[Photon Jet 5,493]

Nintendo has been famous when it comes to trying new, innovative and unpredictable ways to wow its crowd as they are usually the quiet ones during the Console Wars. So there is a possibility they may not go down the same path the Playstation and the Xbox took when it comes to quantity. They could take the quality over quantity route even further in the future. Who knows? 

Although their online service may not have the same strength and stability as the other services especially when they've started introducing the online subscription service which was originally planned to take place last year. You must know that at least they are trying hard to make everyone happy despite its flaws. You can call me a big Nintendo fanpony if you want but I'm still standing by my point.

If at any point the online subscription service does not meet everyone's expectations they could just scrap the idea and try something new. Simple as that. Sometimes it is a good idea to try out new ways because you get to learn from them whenever there were any mistakes.

[YoshiAngemon 223]

Ever since I got my Switch, yesterday, I've been open to going towards new things. I ended up earning Gold Coins from purchases like Super Mario Odyssey, to USING Gold Coins to save on Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (especially since it was on sale at the time)! I say for now, I'll spend the minimum for one month's service, then go up to the full $20 per year next month.

[Celli 4,349]

1 hour ago, Photon Jet said:

Nintendo has been famous when it comes to trying new, innovative and unpredictable ways to wow its crowd as they are usually the quiet ones during the Console Wars. So there is a possibility they may not go down the same path the Playstation and the Xbox took when it comes to quantity. They could take the quality over quantity route even further in the future. Who knows?

Nintendo has shown to be incompetent at online since the Wii.

1 hour ago, Photon Jet said:

Although their online service may not have the same strength and stability as the other services especially when they've started introducing the online subscription service which was originally planned to take place last year. You must know that at least they are trying hard to make everyone happy despite its flaws. You can call me a big Nintendo fanpony if you want but I'm still standing by my point

Again, the issue is they're charging before they've shown the online is worth paying for. The NES game subscriptions is all you get for paying $20 meanwhile you have access to a large selection of classic games on the Wii and Wii U for FREE. They haven't improved the online at all during the free period.

1 hour ago, Photon Jet said:

 If at any point the online subscription service does not meet everyone's expectations they could just scrap the idea and try something new. Simple as that. Sometimes it is a good idea to try out new ways because you get to learn from them whenever there were any mistakes.

They won't. They've realized that paid online is a thing to take advantage of. Leaving PC the only platform with free online, which I will say, is just as good if not better than XBLA and you pay nothing to play online.

[Photon Jet 5,493]

30 minutes ago, Celli said:

Nintendo has shown to be incompetent at online since the Wii.

Again, the issue is they're charging before they've shown the online is worth paying for. The NES game subscriptions is all you get for paying $20 meanwhile you have access to a large selection of classic games on the Wii and Wii U for FREE. They haven't improved the online at all during the free period.

They won't. They've realized that paid online is a thing to take advantage of. Leaving PC the only platform with free online, which I will say, is just as good if not better than XBLA and you pay nothing to play online.

Okay. Let's just see how the online subscription service goes to find out which side is true before we go into boiling water territory.

[Envy 6,384]

17 minutes ago, Photon Jet said:

Okay. Let's just see how the online subscription service goes to find out which side is true before we go into boiling water territory.

It is on Nintendo to prove that their online service is worth paying for. I have heard the same thing since the day the service was revealed in the original Switch reveal presentation. "Stop complaining, give Nintendo a chance. They will reveal more the closer we get to the service's start." Nintendo has never done anything of the sort. I think the only thing that has been revealed since back then (January of 2017) is that the cloud service will be behind the paywall. They have done absolutely nothing else... And that's over a year and a half ago.

What you see now, is what you will get. We can judge it now. Nintendo has failed to prove their online service.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

People comparing it to Xbox or Playstation's paid services are really misleading people because Sony and Microsoft give you way more for your buck. I get 4 games every single month with my gold subscription so it pays for itself. However, my main point against Nintendo's service here is the simple fact that Nintendo still hasn't implemented features that became industry standard over 10 YEARS AGO. We still cannot even send basic text messages to friends on the system and they want to charge us for a service like that? It is embarrassing. Sure, they are bringing us cloud saves over a year into the Switch's life, but that is behind said paywall and without it, we still have no other way of backing up our saves. Nintendo wants to charge for online while still treating all of their customers like babies.

[Photon Jet 5,493]

*sigh* Okay, you all win. I only wanted everypony to keep positive and not make a big fuss over it...Turns out it didn't work. I just love Nintendo so much and believe it could do things the right way without letting its players feel under the weather...but it's not up the ranks next to the PS4, Xbox and PC master races just yet.

I'll go ask a moderator to lock this meaningless topic. Sorry for causing such a pointless argument...

Edited September 2, 2018 by Photon Jet

[MangoFoalix 25,057]

Locked per OP request